Grr... still have stupid author's block for this story! The characters keep leading it away from ending but at this rate I'll run out of interesting events to throw in! It really needs to end or it'll start getting really crappy soon.

I just realized that I've completely forgotten to do something. Well in case anyone was confused (though I doubt any of you are), it's (super late) disclaimer time. Disclaimer: Baka, of course I don't own Meitantei Conan. If I did I would be doing this in the manga and not on fanfiction... that said I'd also be pretty rich if i owned it (which I don't)but Conan wouldn't have lasted as long as it has...

In this chapter; our heros (?) worry over something that may or may not be pointless, Shinichi acts really irresponsible, a few horrible jokes will be told, and secrets will be revealed! Sounds like a train wreck huh?

You wouldn't be reading this right now if you haven't been enjoying so far... I hope hope you like it this time too. As far as reviews go, Thank you! Please review this time too.

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25. The Paradox Of Three Truths

Shinji told us all about what had happened in the future that had caused him to return to change the past. Just listening to it was hard, I have no idea how he'd managed to live through all of it, much less tell about it.

Still, there was something strange about his story, I got the feeling he was hiding something. If he was it was probably something we really were better off not knowing. I planned to ask him about it latter, but decided that I wouldn't force him to tell me anything.

"So there you have it. That's how we got into the current mess," Shinji said when no one had said anything in the tense silence after he'd finished telling his story.

The older Haibara was the first to react, "Then how is it that you can remember all of that now... unless..."

Unless what? None of us wanted to ask that question.

"That letter I gave you also explained how Paradox Syndrome works didn't it?" He asked, his expression made it clear that he would have preferred if it didn't, she nodded and he continued, "Basically when Paradox Syndrome makes someone forget future events they aren't supposed to remember them again until either during the event or after it has passed. To my knowledge there is no other way to reverse Paradox Syndrome. Thinking about it that would mean that either the kidnapping that happened just now was this timeline's equivalent of that event or we've just entered the stage where that event is about to happen."

"Theoretically there should be other ways," Haibara (the elder) added, "It doesn't necessarily mean that. There could be some kind of influence involved in this."

"What do you mean, Haibara?" I asked, wondering what sort of 'influence' she was referring to.

"That would be the paradox that you three have caused, if I had to venture a guess. It's impossible to really say for sure. We can't even be sure that this theory is correct."

The younger Haibara looked at her older counterpart and asked, "What would you say is the most likely outcome of a paradox like this one? If we knew that we could decide what to do from here on out..."

"I have no idea," The older replied in an annoyed tone, "any paradox, as far as I know, can have catastrophic effects or it could do absolutely nothing at all... it's completely unpredictable."

Then it's possible nothing will happen... but it could also potentially destroy the world... not exactly good news, but I'll take it...

Shinji appeared to be in deep thought for a moment before suddenly saying, "No, there are certain patterns that the effects of paradox follow... they wouldn't have been listed in the notes that you have because that letter was placed in the time machine by Ai before we did experiments on that day."

"Eh? A pattern... for paradoxes?"

"The notes Ai took from the experiment that day, I think it was... First theory; synchronicity, if temporal variants are similar enough mentally then one will disappear and the other will be left with both memory sets. Proven possible. Second theory; deletion, if the flow of time is changed too significantly then there is a possibility of the time stream 'deleting' the cause to prevent further changes to time. Proven possible. Third theory; disappearance, if the the past is changed in such a way that the 'traveler' will no longer exist in their current state then they will disappear. Proven possible... er... um... I can't remember the rest..."

"Remembering that much is amazing in itself," Shinichi commented, "It's been almost half a year since you entered this timeline, it's normal not to remember everything after so long..."

"Right... but that doesn't change the fact that this is really important," I responded, "Being able to understand what could happen as a result of the paradox really would help us plan our next move."

"I guess so... too bad he can't remember..."

"Yeah... can't remember..."

"AH-HA!" All three of us shouted with realization at once, "Paradox Syndrome again! ?"

"Yeah, yeah, because naturally anytime I can't remember something it would be because of that. Of course it isn't! If it were like that I probably wouldn't remember the first part either, it's just ordinary forgetfulness."

"Don't sweat the details, blame the paradox for that. Right Conan?"

"Eh? So you're just going to blame everything on either the paradox or Paradox Syndrome. That's irresponsible, I can't believe you're physically older than me."

"It works doesn't it?"

Suddenly there was a sound of someone shifting on the couch, "Shin... ichi?"

"Ran?" He asked, not that he'd been unaware that she was there, just a bit surprised that she'd woken up after so long.

She then asked one of the most annoying questions she could have possibly asked, "What are you three talking about? Something about 'perodocks' or whatever..."

If she's been listening long enough to have heard paradox -albeit not very clearly- then it'll be hard to come up with an appropriate lie... of course the truth isn't an option. I guess it doesn't really matter for me to be thinking about this when the question was clearly directed at Shinichi...

...

Okay, I can do this... I can lie to my not-girlfriend, no big deal. Right, she overheard enough to have heard 'paradox' incoherently so I'm going to have to work that into my excuse... How on Earth am I supposed to do that?

I look over at Conan, the look on his face makes it clear he has no intention of helping me. Great, just dump the responsibility of keeping your lousy unbelievable secrets on me will you?

"Err... Conan and Shinji were just talking about um... this weird anime that they've gotten hooked on, The Paradox of Three Truths, it's about a time traveling detective child so they thought I'd find it interesting... apparently," I said, hoping it sounded casual enough that she'd believe it. Geez, couldn't I have come up with something better? I pretty much just put a bed sheet over the truth and called it a kid in a Halloween costume...

"Oh that sounds cute, I'd like to watch it with you some time," She replied with a smile. Oh God, she's so cute when she smiles like that... I mean- Oh crap, she wants to watch it with me! What now? I can't possibly tell her that no such anime exists!

"But Ran-neechan... I don't think you'd like it very much," Shinji spoke up in a creepily cute childish voice, "Because Kinichi-kun, the child detective, solves cases by talking with the victim's ghosts... Aren't you afraid of ghosts neechan?"

He and Conan both snickered just slightly when he'd said 'Kinichi-kun'. I however couldn't help but be a bit puzzled. 'Kinichi-kun'? Is it an inside joke... or is it just another stupid joke on my name?

"Ghosts..." Ran said calmly, but a slight shiver gave away the fact that she was indeed afraid of ghosts, of course I already knew that but I had forgotten.

I tried to discreetly give Shinji a thumbs up to say 'thanks for helping out'. I'm not sure he noticed.

"Oh! But then what was it that Conan-kun was saying just now... it was something like 'you're physically older' or something... but why specify physically? It's not like he could mentally be older than you, right?" Ran suddenly said, convincing me that she might actually be cut out for a job as a detective after all.

Of all things why did she have to hear that part clearly?

"Um... I was just quoting what one of the ghosts said to Kinichi-kun, you see the ghost had died when he was really young and so since ghosts don't age he still looked like a five year old, then Kinichi-kun said something silly so ghost-chan said 'I can't believe you're physically older than me'," Conan said, with a childish tone similar to that of Shinji. It was so creepy hearing him talk like that when I'd only ever heard him talk with a serious tone before other than when we first met at Tropical Land.

Clearly both Shinji and Conan have way too much experience pretending to be normal first graders, I almost feel sorry for them. Almost. I would have felt sorry for them if she'd believed his excuse, but she didn't seem to be buying it.

"That sounds strange... come to think of it I haven't heard of that anime before, Shinji and his friends are always talking about Kamen Yaiba..." Ran said with a tone that as a detective I was able to easily recognize, a tone that told me that she knew we were lying and was trying to figure out the truth. Knowing Ran she wouldn't stop until she figured it out. She continued with the same innocent yet accusing tone, "You three aren't lying are you?"

Crap. What now? If she knows we're lying then there's no reason to keep up this charade any longer... but we can't tell her the truth, that would put her in danger, AND she'd think we're all crazy!

While I was mentally panicking -though I made sure not to let it show- Shinji sighed and stepped forward, "How about we make a deal."

Ran seemed a bit surprised by his sudden serious tone, but had clearly seen him act serious enough times that she didn't seem concerned enough to ask about his sudden change in character. She nodded, seeming just as serious.

"Me, Conan, and Shinichi. You can ask each of us only one question (but it can't be like 'what's going on', 'are you lying' or 'what did so-and-so mean by...') and we'll each answer honestly, we're aloud to answer as vaguely as we want to but our answer has to be true," He said, his expression was twisted into a smug grin that betrayed that he had the utmost confidence in this plan, "So... Will you accept?"

Ran looked at him with an expression I'd never seen before; I'm not sure if but she seemed uncertain, she was hesitating, but the look she gave had an air of understanding and acceptance.

"I will."

"Then go ahead and ask."